BLM backs down to thugs…Tension grows on Nev. wild horse issue

The sparking point for the tensions with the Utah Cattlemen is actually over whether they wish to follow American laws or not after the round up of Cliven Bundy’s cattle off Federal land in Nevada. Law enforcement say they are too afraid of the violence if a range war were to begin. Mr. Bundy has been allowed to disregard federal law for over a decade because he does not recognize “federal authority” – neither it seems do the local law enforcement or the Utah cattlemen by giving an ultimatum to the BLM. Either the wild horses go or they will round them up and dispose with them as they please. The BLM has chosen to give in to these thugs who seem to be nothing more than a wing of the Posse Comitatus. ~ HfH

Tensions bubbled over on the range in a turf battle that has been simmering for decades over one of the icons of the American West and scant forage on arid, high desert lands from Nevada to Wyoming.

With the presence of wild horses continuing to pit animal advocates against ranchers, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which is caught in the middle, on Saturday began seizing hundreds of cattle from a longtime rancher that it says are trespassing on public land in southern Nevada.

The action came a day after the agency agreed to remove horses from the range in southwest Utah after Iron County commissioners threatened to take matters in their own hands.

Wild-horse protection advocates say the government is rounding up too many mustangs while allowing livestock to feed at taxpayer expense on the same rangeland scientists say is being overgrazed.

Ranchers say the government refuses to gather enough horses in the herds that double in size every five years while moving to confiscate cattle on lands where their ancestors have operated for more than a century.

The BLM says it’s doing all it can, given budget constraints, overflowing holding pens and a distaste for the politically unpopular options of either ending the costly roundups or slaughtering excess horses.

The agency started taking cattle Saturday from Cliven Bundy, who it says has been trespassing on U.S. land without required grazing permits for over 25 years. Bundy doesn’t recognize federal authority on land he insists belongs to Nevada.

“These people are thieves,” Bundy told the Associated Press on Saturday. “I haven’t even started fighting yet. You think I’m going to lay down and just give up. I’m going to fight for the Constitution and state sovereignty.”

Asked what actions he planned to take, Bundy replied, “Why don’t you wait and see. As I told the BLM and county sheriff, ‘I’ll do whatever it takes.’”

BLM spokeswoman Kirsten Cannon, in a media conference call Saturday afternoon, said her agency was implementing two federal court orders to remove Bundy’s cattle after making repeated efforts to resolve the matter outside court.

Plans call for the removal of some 900 trespassing cattle from 1,200 square miles of land in southern Nevada managed by her agency and the National Park Service over the next three to four weeks, she said.

A federal judge in Las Vegas first ordered Bundy to remove his trespassing cattle in 1998. Similar orders were issued last July and again in October.

SHARE ON

Tags:

AUTHOR:
Posted by Habitat for Horses Calaway

26 Comments

Heres the thing ,THE American people DO NOT BACK DOWN TO THUGS !!!! or any of their rantings,This is all ABOUT THE HORSES….. always has been, and always will be…… There are certain things in America that are sacred and the Mustangs head the List………

April 6, 2014

Sue

Madeleine Paulson needs to step up and take the mustangs. She’s got acreage in Nevada.

April 6, 2014

Maggie Frazier

Why is it that at the roundups of wild horses & burros done by the BLM – there is “security” to prevent the 5 or 10 wild horse advocates from disrupting the roundup – but in this case where this man has used the grazing allotment for 20 years (?) & not paid??? Wouldn’t you think the ranchers who actually DO pay & do the upkeep of these allotments would holler a bit about this? This man should be arrested because he has broken the law for 20 years – its not Pioneer days anymore…..

April 6, 2014

Jean

In the case of Bundy, the BLM land was closed to grazing because it is a desert tortoise habitat. The rangers and roundup contractors might be doing more damage to the habitat than Bundy’s cows, though. If there are wild horses in that area, I wouldn’t put it past the BLM to round them up, too.

April 6, 2014

Elaine Arel

All comments are rational and proper – that being said, I am of cynical mindset due to many disappointments in this war against horse and burros. Bundy statement “Ranchers say the government refuses to gather enough horses in the herds that double in size every five years while moving to confiscate cattle on lands where their ancestors have operated for more than a century” sounds too much like a BLM regurgitation. BLM is hoping ranchers will takes actions against horses, leaving BLM free from blame and cost.

April 6, 2014

Callie83

This has clearly been a long time coming for Bundy the Cattleman,however, this stuff with Utah is just crazy. It is similar to the war against the Wolves, these animals stay away from Humans and their main food source is Field Mice. They will scavenge a carcass but they do not raid Cattle Ranches, Coyotes do that. The BLM will organize a ‘Gather’ and get the horses in Utah and put them in long term holding because they are being smited for allowing those Wild Horses to be sent to Canada where they were slaughtered.

The BORDERS are an an enormous problem, even if we get all the redundant Legislation passed. we can NEVER close our Borders due to the North American Free Trade Agreement. We would need funding for the US Department of Transportation so they could inspect every vehicle carrying horses at both the Canadian and Mexico Borders. I am not hopeful about this at all.

Margaret

I know this wont be popular but hell let a range war break out. Let those ranchers lay a paw on one of those horses. Cause then BLM will have to take action on a grazing permit, ranchers will pay fines and time behind bars.

After that if they are found are guilty and there Mormon they put their Church membership at risk. But then again since the majority of them are men and they have the male appendage the Church usually has a double standard…

Excommunication in the Mormon Church–very few things are so frightening.

April 6, 2014

Ray

CALL THE FBI and report that federally protected horses are being threatened by thugs.Take this out of BLMs hand and put in the FBI’s.

Grandma Gregg

The American people own the public lands in the West and they are administered (supposedly) on our behalf by the national government under laws and regulations. These are not “federal lands.” They are public lands and they never belonged to the respective states or to the federal government. This land and its resources belong to all citizens of the United States.

This Utah group has threatened the property of the citizens of America. Is the BLM going to protect you and me and our land and our resources and our wild horses and burros from these threatening thugs???
Removal or reduction of domestic livestock which provides financial gain for any private or corporate owned institution should be activated in favor of protecting the land and the wildlife and wild horses and wild burros and their habitat that belong to the American people. As a matter of fact, by law the BLM can close appropriate areas of public lands to grazing use by all or a particular kind of livestock, if necessary, to provide habitat for wild horses or burros; to implement herd management actions; or to protect wild horses or burros from disease, harassment, or injury. 43 C.F.R. § 4710.5. It is the law.

These are not “federal lands.” They are public lands. They never belonged to ANY individual, private or corporate entity. The land and the resources and the animals belong to you and me. The land and its resources belong to you and me – and all American people.

If these people touch or harm the Horses , mustangs or burros, the BLM will have to protect them !!!!!

April 8, 2014

FDray

The Feds and the B.L.M. don’t want the horses there any more than the cattle, never did never will. Sad but true.

April 11, 2014

Callie83

Clearly this man is living in his own reality and so are his 13 – 17 kids, I don’t remember how many. BLM had to get reinforcements from other areas to complete the removal of the Cattle. I have not heard if the wild horses were picked up too. I hope not!

April 11, 2014

Rovkymtndkyrider

Ok so let’s see what we have wild horse that can only be found in a few spots wild and then you have ranchers who are not even paying the
1.35 a month to graze but are botching because of wild horses that you find more in captivity around what 40000 in Oklahoma but keep somehow disappearing and being filmed and seen crossing the boarders of Mexico and Canada but go by a steak see if that’s a 1.35 a pound tell me again how abused these people are really the BLM needs to figure it out and death of a protected species isn’t it. Fallow the laws

April 11, 2014

Kathryn

What makes you think the BLM will protect the wild horses ? It’s THEM who have been rounding them up for years , holding them in cruel pens with no shelter in heat or snow and secretly disposing them at killer buyer auctions !

April 12, 2014

Bull

The author of this article and the ignorant people talking about the wild horses are clueless and need to do some research other than this blatant socialist propaganda article. This land was not reserved for wild horses. It was reserved for the desert tortoise, which is so over bread now that they are being euthanized. This rancher’s family has been using this land since 1877. It’s not federal land, it is owned by the State of Nevada. BLM has zero right or call on what happens on it. Don’t believe these blatant lies from a pathetic blogger and apparently some idiotic commenters who have their heads in their ass.

Is your Last name on here sh*t……???? When one comes to a SITE that Is For the Mustangs , one must expect to find everyone Talking about Horses !!!!!! just Clarifying where you are !!!!! FYI no one here has their head up the ass, just caring Americans fighting for the Mustangs , They are National Treasures !!!!!! Never heard a Cow called that !!!!!!

April 12, 2014

Louie C

BLM fracking racket exposed! Armed seige and cattle theft at Bundy Ranch really about fracking leases
“BLM collects $1.27 million in shale fracking leases”http://ppjg.me/2014/04/11/blm-fracking-racket-exposed-armed-seige-and-cattle-theft-at-bundy-ranch-really-about-fracking-leases/
The Daily Sheeple
“The way this works, of course, is that BLM runs land theft operations by claiming they are “managing” the land and thereby kicking everyone else off it. They then invoke a reptile, an owl, a bird, a snake or some other animal which they claim to be “saving,” even while they are stealing and destroying hundreds of cattle belonging to a private rancher trying to make an honest living in a nation where productive Americans are increasingly branded “enemies of the state.”
This document from the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology (1) http://www.naturalnews.com/files/Petroleum-Data-Clark-County-Nevada.pdf shows significant exploratory drilling being conducted in precisely the same area where the Bundy family has been running cattle since the 1870′s. The “Gold Butte” area is indicated on the lower right corner of the document (see below), and it clearly shows numerous exploratory drilling operations have been conducted there.
What’s also clear is that oil has been found in nearby areas and possibly even within the Gold Butte area itself.
It is, of course, customary for the U.S. government to bring armed soldiers to an oil dispute. (Operation “Iraqi Freedom” for starters…) Heavily armed snipers, helicopters and militarized soldiers have never been invoked over tortoises. (Anyone who thinks this siege is about reptiles is kidding themselves.)
Here’s the map showing the oil exploration conducted on the land where Bundy runs his cattle (all the red crosshairs are oil and gas exploration drilling operations):

One small yet highly significant victory for productive working Americans over the ever growing fed. Bureaucrats are now forced to think long and hard about who this country belongs to when things get rough. It’s time to re-deploy these BLM tin-shield thugs down south in an attempt to manage millions of acres of public border lands that are being trashed and violated with utter disregard by hoards of illegal aliens.

April 12, 2014

Valerie Parkhurst

You people can kiss my ass. You have effectively cut your own throats with a dull knife in this expose’

April 12, 2014

Mark Kross

Well, when the smoke clears on this one, it may have had nothing to do with mustangs or tortoises at all. The rumor is that the BLM backed down shortly after it was revealed that Nevada Sen. Reid had that land earmarked for a Chinese installed solar farm, of which Reid was supposedly going to make out quite well, financially speaking. One of Reid’s fellow Congressmen spoke about this just yesterday. Try doing a Google search on “blm nevada reid chinese solar farm”. There is plenty out there on it. If there is any truth to any of it, this one may and should send Reid to prison for a long, long time.

April 12, 2014

Louie C

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE BLMhttp://ppjg.me/2011/05/09/an-open-letter-to-the-blm/
by Debbie Coffey
This is about the wild horse roundups. BUT, ranch owners who own cattle and sheep should pay attention to the following, and wonder what water or land will be left for your livestock grazing in the future.
Why do you think the DOI is removing all of the wild horses off our public lands?
For you?

April 13, 2014

Louie C

2.
3. ANIMALS’ ANGELShttp://archive.constantcontact.com/fs161/1101655399670/archive/1114323721413.html
Utah:
Utah BLM also supplied Animals’ Angels with mortality records for the Delta, Gunnison and Salt Lake Facility. According to Juan Palma, State Director of the BLM in Utah, the BLM utilizes five landfills for dead horse disposal: Iron County Landfill, Sevier County Landfill, Millard County Landfill, Sanpete Landfill and Salt Lake Valley Landfill.
Iron County Landfill
Per the BLM, disposal at this landfill was rare. There was no charge for disposal, nor were any records kept by either party. Associated numbers for the word “rare” are left open to interpretation.
Sevier County Landfill
Per the BLM, there was no charge for disposal at this landfill, nor were any records kept. Exact totals were unknown.
Millard County Landfill
Per the Millard Landfill, records were not kept regarding horses/burros disposed of by the BLM. Sheryl Dekker, Office Manager at the landfill, also indicated that they did not invoice for the service and that the landfill does not monitor if & how many animals are delivered to their “flesh pits”.
Sanpete Landfill
According to the BLM, this landfill was utilized quite frequently for dead animal disposal from the Gunnison facility. Per the Sanpete Landfill’s Chairman Scott Bartholomew (who referred us to the UT BLM), records are not kept regarding the BLM’s disposal. However, a portion of Utah BLM’s internal records received with the FOIA included receipts http://www.filefactory.com/file/2em7h15eeoav/n/UT_Gunnison_BLM_records_pdf
for Sanpete. Money was exchanged for the service, but the BLM was again charged for tonnage, not for individual headcount, which makes it difficult to compare these figures with mortality report numbers. Exact totals are unknown. According to the mortality records, 131 horses died at the Gunnison facility in 2011. The Sanpete Landfill invoices indicate disposal of carcasses with a total weight of 56,780lbs.
Salt Lake Valley Landfill
The Salt Lake Valley Landfill provided BLM disposal records to Animals’ Angels. This landfill was paid by the BLM for tonnage. The tonnage records provided by the landfill do not match the number of dead horses listed on the mortality records. For example, according to the mortality records, no horses died at the Salt Lake Facility between April and July of 2010. However, the landfill records show several BLM disposals during that timeframe.
Incongruent record keeping by all entities proves only one thing: there is no way to accurately determine the death rates within Utah BLM, as concrete figures are completely unavailable.

April 13, 2014

T.J. Thomas

Enough with the desert tortoise. Bundy stopped paying fees in 1993. The tortoise didn’t become an issue until 1998. And then the government still went for 14 years without doing anything about Bundy’s trespassing, and when the did attempt to round up his cattle in April 2012 they backed down then too. This isn’t about the tortoise, or a Chinese solar energy plant that doesn’t even exist anymore. This is about Cliven Bundy being a wealthy rancher (his ranch is 150,000 acres, well-watered by the Virgin River) being protected by conservatives who love protecting the rich.

Why should you adopt?

Every horse needs a home. Few moments are more treasured than watching a once starved horse, now healthy and happy, sharing a new home with a loving family. View our list of horses and donkeys, fully vaccinated, all medical work completed, and ready to join you and your family. They need you.

About Habitat for Horses

Habitat for Horses is a not-for-profit equine protection agency committed to the prevention, rescue and rehabilitation of neglected, abused and homeless equine. While being responsive to calls for assistance from law enforcement, the organization maintains a leadership role in horse protection issues and assist in setting the standards for all equine facilities throughout the US.